


First Paw-Prints of Winter

by elvhenphoenix



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, they have a kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 20:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5839924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvhenphoenix/pseuds/elvhenphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My first participation in 'DAFicSwap'! Round 4's theme was 'Firsts', and I was paired with the boss herself - JessicaPendragon! </p>
<p>Keela comes home to discover her daughter has disappeared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Paw-Prints of Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JessicaPendragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaPendragon/gifts).



Unusually, the house is quiet when she gets home. Normally there are shrieks of laughter from her daughter, as Solas entertains her. Or, in less pleasant moments, there are tears and screams heralding her arrival. The silence is both welcome and a little unnatural.

‘I’m back!’ Keela shouts out. The call is accompanied by a heavy creaking of the oaken door as she closes it behind her. She’s shaking snow out of her hair as she does so; for some unearthly reason _someone_ in the district decided it needed to snow today, and her cloak and boots are completely sodden. Once she’s let the latch fall, Keela opens the clasp that’s holding her woollen cloak about her neck. The melting remnants of the snowfall are beginning to drip onto the floor, and hurriedly she takes the cloak into the family room. The fire is curled in its bed, and with a word she awakens it in the hearth once more. There’s a peg knocked into the wall by the fire for this exact reason, and she smiles, remembering Solas’ insistence that he put it in himself, as she hangs the cloak up to dry. After a moment, she tugs off her boots and lets them rest beside the warmth; they were not built to withstand the sudden winter that arrived today.

The house is still quiet; Solas doesn’t appear to have heard her shout. Squatting by the fire, Keela warms her hands as she ponders where her husband and daughter might be hiding today – no doubt Solas has become lost in telling Fen a story. There’s a tiny giggle, suddenly, from somewhere in the house. It’s the enchanting laughter of a baby, _her_ baby, and the sound warms her far more than the flames do.

‘Fenera? Where are you, da’len?’ This time, there’s no response, no sound of laughter. It’s foolish, but a tiny prickle of fear runs up her spine nonetheless. Perhaps she is simply being entertained by her father.

‘Solas?’ Now she’s listening intently, and there’s a rustle in the direction of the kitchen. Keela straightens, moving through the hall to the kitchen, where she can see him, humming to himself as he peruses a recipe in an old and faded book. Alone.

There’s no daughter clambering around his feet, and Keela jerks to a halt in the doorway. Her motion distracts Solas, and he turns to her, his eyes lighting up as he sees her. ‘My heart. Welcome home.’

‘Where’s Fen?’ she asks instead, ignoring his welcome. ‘I can’t find her.’ He looks about the kitchen, alarm crossing his face as he realises his daughter is nowhere to be seen. ‘Solas, where’s our daughter?’

A part of her mind is trying to remain calm; her daughter can barely crawl. There is no way that Fenera will have just disappeared. But she’s a mother, and the protectiveness she feels over her daughter is like no sensation she’s experienced before. Solas seems to see the panic rising in her eyes, and he replaces the knife on the counter.

‘Let us search for her,’ he offers. ‘I’m sure she cannot have gone far.’ He moves towards her, grasping her shoulders. ‘We will find her, Keela,’ he promises. She nods, swallowing her worry, and the two of them begin to search their home.

‘Fen!’

‘Fenera!’

‘Da’len!’

They rejoin one another at the top of the stairs, Keela’s panic digging in as Solas shakes her head. Worry creases his brow, and frustration settles on his face.

‘She’s not here.’

‘No.’ She’s furious. ‘Where else could she be?’

They’ve searched the entire top level of the house by the time they hear her laugh again. It’s fainter this time, and both Keela and Solas stop, listening intently.

‘Outside?’ Keela looks helplessly at her partner. ‘How did she get out there? Alone?’

Solas seems to assume the worst; a ball of ethereal blue flames appears around his fist, and his stance widens. ‘Let us go and find out.’ It’s said with a snarl, and although she is terrified for Fenera, part of Keela is glad to see that Solas has not forgotten how to fight, living in the city as they do.

He leads the way, hurrying down the stairs two, three steps at a time. She only just manages to keep up, so swift is his anger and his fear, and when he comes to a sudden halt as he reaches the courtyard she slams into his back.

‘Keela.’ He does not sound afraid; rather, his tone is suddenly one of wonder, and quiet reverence. ‘Keela, look.’

He moves aside to let her see through the doorway, and her jaw drops. There, alone in the snow, Fen is standing. Admittedly, it’s not with any sense of finesse – her daughter is clinging to the wall as a drunk might cling to a tavern bar – but she’s standing. On her own.

‘Fen,’ she breathes, as her fears and worries vanish. Her daughter looks up at her at the sound of her name, and beams from ear to ear. Her smile is so bright, so wide, it seems to radiate a light all of its own.

‘Mamae!’ she chirrups in delight.

Incredibly, miraculously, Fen comes away from the wall, and moves towards her. It is only a few, tottering steps, a stumble, and then she falls face first into the snow; but-

‘She walked,’ Keela whispers. She cannot move. Solas eases past her, and goes towards their daughter, collecting her in his arms and dusting away the snow. Fen giggles at his touch, blowing raspberries in joyous gurgles, and Solas smiles, raising her high in the air, before hugging her close to him.

‘Da’fen,’ he whispers, and Keela loves him well enough to know the subtle crack in his voice as he looks at her with tear-filled eyes. It stirs her limbs, and she moves to join her family in the snow.


End file.
